Q: Dear respected lawyers, A friend of mine, one of the accountants employed in a Company, has admitted to his Company of taking more than 300,000 AED over the past years by adjusting his net salary in the payroll file. The amount of adjustment is reflected in a hidden row in the payroll file. The payroll files he prepared were still approved by HR and accounting supervisors...etc. because they did not do a detailed review of individual payroll credits. The Company has now decided to do an investigation excluding him and came up with other amounts they claim he had also taken, but which he has refused. He is currently trying to negotiate with the Company to give him a chance to pay back the amount which is a valid claim while the Company is still considering whether to file a case in court or not. If the Company decides to file a case, what is the probable penalty he may face? Length of jail time and fines? While the Company is still considering, what can he do to avoid having the case filed in court?

Q: My brother in law is in jail for taking AED 12 million from his company and he is in jail (Abu Dhabi, UAE) under remand. I don't know whether he had taken the money or not, but his employer is saying he had taken it and given him a confession letter. I don't know about the confession they took. I had not seen him because it happened last week and I am not able to go and meet him as it is very far from my house and also I have no blood relation.  I need to take permit from the prosecution department. I trying to meet him by next week. Kindly advise me what I need to do. Also, advise me on: 1. Suppose the above thing has happened, how many years he needs to be in jail? 2. If it is a false case by the employer, how will we prove his innocence? 3. Will the court give a chance to him to prove he is innocent and how? Please note that he has no advocate. 4. I assume this will be a false case as the employer is saying he started doing so for the last three years. This company had every year annual audit and they did not find.

Q: Hi. My wife left the UAE without informing her company, so it means she is absconding. She doesn't have any debts with the banks or whatsoever. Now, the problem is that my wife is scheduled to go to another country and her company is threatening her that they will file a complaint and block her from going to another country. Is it possible to block her plans even though she’s out of the UAE already? Thank you.

س: مساء الخير، توجد ضدي قضية جزائية "تهمة خيانة أمانة" وأثبت الخبير المحاسبي المُعيّن من المحكمة أن الشركة لم تقدِّم دليلاً على أن المتهم اختلس أي مبالغ مالية. حصلت على حكم ابتدائي بالسجن والغرامة، واستأنفت الحكم فتم تخفيضه إلى 20 ألف وقدمت على طعن، ولكن رُفض الطعن. هل توجد أي حلول أخرى لإثبات برائتي أو تقديم التماس أو إعادة نظر؟

Q: Dear sir/madam, I and my husband went into business together. I allowed him to run everything as I was working another full-time job and was taking care of our children. He is now filing a lawsuit against me for misappropriation of funds while he was handling everything. Now that we are getting a divorce because he left me for one of our employees, he is trying to sue me and take everything wrongfully. Is there anything I can do? I was the majority owner in name but he ran everything and handled all the money and contracts.

This Law promulgates the Federal Penal Code (Criminal Law) of the United Arab Emirates. Crimes and chastisement punishments shall be determined in accordance with the provisions of this Law and other penal codes.

The provisions of this Federal Decree-Law No. (31) of 2021 Promulgating the Crimes and Penalties Law, known as the "New UAE Penal Code", governs criminal actions in the United Arab Emirates. The New Penal Code repeals the previous UAE Penal Code (Federal Law No. (3) of 1987 Promulgating the Penal Code).